Carnegie Mellon University's Miller Institute for Contemporary Art is pleased to present "Get Out The Vote: Empowering the Women's Vote," an exhibition in partnership with AIGA Design for Democracy and the League of Women Voters. The "Get Out the Vote: Empowering the Women's Vote" poster campaign commemorates the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote in 1920. It was the first legislation for women's voting rights. Not until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 were voting rights of all women protected and enforced.
A core group of 71 invited female designers — including CMU Professor Terry Irwin — submitted the first 65 non-partisan posters, to launch the initiative with their vision and voices. Through these posters, these women joined forces to collectively contribute to dialogue in design and society.
"This is a highly charged moment in history given the context of the pandemic and the surging Black Lives Matter movement within a country that is intensely divided along political lines. This project aims to catalyze voter participation in the upcoming election, as well as serve as a backdrop for discourse around our current political moment and the complex history of voting rights." said Miller ICA Director Elizabeth Chodos.
In addition to exhibiting AIGA's "Get Out the Vote: Empowering the Women's Vote" poster campaign, the Miller ICA will launch a Pittsburgh presentation of posters. The PGH Edition will amplify the voices of women, transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) artists.
The AIGA exhibition will launch Saturday, Aug. 22, through Sunday, Nov. 15, with options to visit online or in person when possible. The Pittsburgh edition will launch on Thursday, Sept. 24, which is National Voter Registration Day, and there will be a virtual tour of the exhibition that afternoon. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.
